alternator voltage regulator

[chapel gate]

Not many people seem to bother with this, preferring to go with a higher amp unit or a after market job. I wasnt bothered about more amps and I didnt want to offend the old girl with chinese ebay shit. So I decided to overhaul the alternator.

My second hand alternator had been going bad for a while struggling with voltage and eventually lighting up the dash warning lights. I charged the battery once a week while I waited for the regulator to come. In hindsight running the bad alternator for three weeks was a bad idea, one morning I smelt a burning smell. On lifting the bonnet some of the windings were glowing red. Should of took the belts off...

the regulator arrived so I took the alternator off. The shorting had caused damage to the windings:



I had my original unit which also wouldnt charge but I didnt run it for long before taking it off. So I changed the brushes and regulator in this one.



This is really easy to do, the hardest part is taking of the alternator and putting it on. Works a treat now showing a strong charge.



all back together.

 

[frank rabbets]

I recently took mine apart after 140,000 road miles and no heavy electrical use. All pretty much perfect. I was impressed by the water proof brush housing. Hope yours runs OK.

 

[Chris]

I have swapped the bearing in mine before now. Hard to get as they are stupid custom sizes. But easy to do.

 

[chapel gate]

Works a treat now frank.

Are the bearings easy to replace then chris? I didnt have to delve that deep as mine ran smooth and was no play in the shaft, i suppose the only thing that would make the alternator beyond repair would be if the commutator wore out?

 

[Chris]

Yes they are. As long as you can get them. Taking the unit apart is easy to get to them. If you have a rumbly alternator doing the bearings is the cure. I have found that if they are rumbly then it's not portent to imminent failure. I reckon they could rumble for thousands of miles before they got critical. Sealed bearing are deff the key.

 

[frank rabbets]

Well done. Electrical things are a bit iffy because you can't see what's going on other than the mechanical parts. I take care to make sure the belt is only just tight enough so as not to stress the bearing.

I've had rumbly bearings on my lawn mower for years and just wash them out with petrol and pack them with grease.

 

[Chris]

Aside from the obvious issue of off road filth getting in there, it's definitely over-tightening the belts that is the cause of early bearing failure. The bearing has to put up with quite a lot. High revs, head, lateral forces etc. And they are very small bearings too.

 

[Dave2000]

I replaced mine with the higher amperage (150) in preparation for the electric cooling fan/s. The old unit is still in the garage and has well over 200,000 miles and was working fine when I took it off, Toyota OE 'stuff' is very good from the factory. My 150 amp unit was new OE from a Sequoia, bolted straight in with a minor mod to the adjuster bracket, even the oval plug at the rear is the same, like the temp gauge mod, BEBs, money well spent.

regards

Dave

 

[chapel gate]

Would that be a denso dave? Much bigger in size physically? I hate removing the alternator on the 80. One thing that struck me this time was how hard the belts were to get on, had to lever them on with a flat head driver!?!

 

[Dave2000]

The info is on my MUD thread, link in sig, it is bigger in the body width wise but not by much, length is the same. The adjuster bracket needed a bit of work but nothing really, done the mod about three years ago?

regards

Dave